Academic language is the set of words, grammar, and organizational strategies used to describe complex ideas, higher-order thinking processes, and abstract concepts.

Jeff Zwiers (2008)

How do we empower diverse learners with the academic language essential for school success?  Let’s discuss this important topic on Monday, August 18th at 6pm EST during #thetileonechat on Twitter. Thank you, Tiawana Giles (@TiawanaG) for this opportunity to be a guest moderator this week for your great Twitter chat! For readers who like to have time to think about questions early, I’m posting each question now in this blog. As a chat participant, I…

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Questions are bigger than answers. One good question can give rise to several layers of answers, can inspire decades-long searches for solutions, can generate whole new fields of inquiry, and can prompt changes in entrenched thinking. Answers, on the other hand, often end the process.

Stuart Firestein

Stuart Firestein’s book Ignorance: How It Drives Science offers a valuable perspective to educators. Through fascinating examples of scientific experiments and discoveries, he makes a powerful case for the central role uncertainty plays in driving science. “Want to be on the cutting edge?” he writes, “Well, it’s all, or mostly, ignorance out there. Forget the answers.  Work on the questions.” Great scientific discoveries often emerge from experiments that “fail.” While…

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